Member Sign In

You are being directed to ZacksTrade, a division of LBMZ Securities and licensed broker-dealer. ZacksTrade and Zacks.com are separate companies. The web link between the two companies is not a solicitation or offer to invest in a particular security or type of security. ZacksTrade does not endorse or adopt any particular investment strategy, any analyst opinion/rating/report or any approach to evaluating indiv idual securities.

If you wish to go to ZacksTrade, click OK. If you do not, click Cancel.

DFS Reveals 2013 Business Plans

Recently, in an investor conference, Discover Financial Services (DFS - Free Report) announced its plans to enter the checking and home equity businesses in 2013. Additionally, the company will launch a new banking platform during the year and expand the PULSE network to include all debit transactions.

DFS also plans to expand its market presence through product launches, extension of distribution channels and partnerships. Further, it will continue expanding card acceptances within the U.S. as well as internationally.

Discover Financial has set a long-term growth rate target of 2%–5% for card receivables, 5%-10% for other consumer lending and over 10% for payment volume. Further, the company wants to achieve return on equity of 15% and Tier 1 common ratio of about 9.5% in the long term.

DFS believes that its expertise in the credit card and savings business will facilitate the launch of the checking business. Similarly, proficiency in the personal and home loans businesses will help the company foray into the home equity business.

Discover Financial entered the home loan business in 2012, following the acquisition of Home Loan Center from Tree.com Inc. (TREE - Free Report) , and has already established a strong foothold in the business.

Considering that about 80% of Discover Financial’s clients are home owners and the home equity loan business witnessed initial signs of recovery in 2012, the company expects substantial demand for home equity loans. DFS intends to offer secured, fixed-rate home equity loans with values between $25,000 and $100,000.

So far in 2013, Discover Financial has already launched Discover Cashback CheckingSM – a checking account offering cashback rewards – and Discover it – a new credit card that charges no annual fee, over-limit fee, pay-by-phone fee, foreign transaction fee or any fee on the first late payment.

Further, the company has announced affiliations with Cadence Bank and Interswitch Limited to boost card acceptances and transaction volume. Discover Financial also collaborated with Facebook, Inc. (FB - Free Report) to launch the Facebook Gift card program.

Resources

Client Support

Follow Us

Zacks Moblie App

Zacks Research is Reported On:

Yahoo

MSN

Marketwatch

Nasdaq

Forbes

Investors.com

Morningstar

Copyright 2018 Zacks Investment Research

At the center of everything we do is a strong commitment to independent research and sharing its profitable discoveries with investors. This dedication to giving investors a trading advantage led to the creation of our proven Zacks Rank stock-rating system. Since 1988 it has more than doubled the S&P 500 with an average gain of +25% per year. These returns cover a period from 1988-2017. Zacks Rank stock-rating system returns are computed monthly based on the beginning of the month and end of the month Zacks Rank stock prices plus any dividends received during that particular month. A simple, equally-weighted average return of all Zacks Rank stocks is calculated to determine the monthly return. The monthly returns are then compounded to arrive at the annual return. Only Zacks Rank stocks included in Zacks hypothetical portfolios at the beginning of each month are included in the return calculations. Zack Ranks stocks can, and often do, change throughout the month. Certain Zacks Rank stocks for which no month-end price was available, pricing information was not collected, or for certain other reasons have been excluded from these return calculations.

Visit performance for information about the performance numbers displayed above.